How To Save Time Planning Your Yoga Classes

By: Gaia Staff | November 8, 2012

Reuse That Yoga Class Plan Again!

If you teach several yoga classes each week, just planning all your classes, let alone teaching them, can take a lot of time. If you’re finding that it’s more stressful than fun to plan all your classes, you’re not alone, but there’s a simple, easy way to alleviate that unwanted pressure – reuse your class plans!

You may feel like you’re taking a shortcut or disappointing your students if you don’t show up with a completely new class plan each and every time, but nothing could be further from the truth. You should reuse your class plans! Teaching the same class a few times gives your syllabus a chance to grow, develop, and change. Plus, you’ll find yourself improvising and riffing in new directions that will offer your students a different and deeper experience.

Also, working your students through the same sequencing a few times will allow them to feel some progress with the poses. If you’ve introduced some new or challenging poses, giving your students the chance to try them again will boost their confidence and self-esteem as they see their practices improve.

Instead of working on 10 unique class plans and spreading yourself too thin, plan just two or three instead. Not only will you find that you’re less stressed, you’ll also be able to infuse more quality and thoughtfulness into your sequencing and themes.

Don’t be afraid to be transparent about it! If you feel like you’re copping out by reusing class plans, be upfront with your students. Let them know they’ll be working through similar sequencing a few days in a row, and tell them why. Once they understand the benefits of yoga pose repetition, they’ll be on board with it, too!

Plus, with some of that free time that you’ve found, why not attend a yoga class right here on Gaia and get even more great class ideas to share with your students!

Cailen Ascher

Cailen Ascher is a marketing maven and yoga teacher who wants to live in a world where everyone’s dream job is their day job and yoga pants are acceptable work attire. As an internationally known yoga entrepreneur and marketing expert, she’s been featured on MindBodyGreen, elephant journal, Gaiam TV, LKR Social Media, Gary Vaynerchuk’s “1 a Day Q&A”, YogipreneurTV, Millennial Talk with Chelsea Krost, and is co-host of Yoga Business LIVE.
Discover how to transform your yoga teaching “hobby” into a career at www.CALMbiz.com, and when you sign up for Cailen’s weekly newsletter, you’ll receive a copy of her Yoga Biz Essential’s e-book for FREE!
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